106 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



instances that Colgan quotes, to prove that ecclesiastics often became 

 anchorites even after they had attained to abbatical rank, are, therefore, 

 quite beside the point. I do not question that the abbot of the story may 

 perhaps have been called " ('orcran " ; but unless further facts be discovered, 

 it is useless to speculate as to his real name. Clonmacnois affords us a most 

 instructive indication of the possibilities of corruption of personal names, and 

 the impossibility, in many cases, of detecting and correcting the corruption. 

 All the Annals agree in telling us that in or about the year 874 two abbots 

 of that monastery died, liy name Eogon and Mael-Tuile. By good luck they 

 were buried in one grave and commemorated Ijy one stone, which happily 

 survives to give us contemporary evidence that theii' names were really 

 Eiidits and Macl-Oiiwe !' Who would have suspected this, had the stone been 

 lost? 



In the foregoing account of the early history of Inis Cealtra I have 

 omitted one enigmatical reference. This is the celebration on the 24th May 

 of the Seven Daughters of Fergus. Gorman thus alludes to them : — 



Baivdand Ferguis ale, lui cade cen clereim 



— " the women-children of Fergus I beseech, the chaste ones without an evil 

 course." To rhis there is a gloss, seclit iiingJiena Ferguis 6 Tigli inghcn 

 Ferghasa, "the seven daughters of Fergus from Tech Inghen Ferghusa." 

 This gloss forms the entry under the date named in the Martyrology of 

 Donegal. Oengus is silent regarding these holy women ; but the Martyrology 

 of Tallaght names them, and is remarkable in definitely assigning 

 them to Inis Cealtra. In the absence of any real knowledge as to who 

 Fei'gus and his daughters may ha\'e been, it is injudicious to be dogmatic ; 

 but, on the whole, it is most probable that the Martyrology of Tallaght has 

 made a mistake. There is no ti'ace of any other indication of the admission 

 of females to the island. 



We have already seen that Turgeis ravaged the island in 8o6. About 

 a hundred years later — in 922, to be precise — Tomar son of Elge landed 

 with an immense fleet and proceeded up the Shannon, plundering and 

 burning on the way. Inis Cealtra and the other island monasteries of Loch 

 Derg were visited by this marauder, and at our monastery, we read that he 

 and his followers '■ plundered Inis Cealtra and drowued its shrines and its 

 relics and its books." 



' Compare the confusion of " Cormac " and "Colum" in the tree story given above. 

 The tale of Annichad seems to have escaped the notice of Prof. Zimmer in his study of 

 the Gaulish wine-trade. No doubt Inis Cealtra would profit by a traffic that (even earlier 

 than Anmch.ad's time by several centuries) penetrated up the Shannon as far as 

 Clonmacnois. - Voijadh G. re G., p. 38. 



